The present invention relates to a guide arrangement for a displaceably suspended door element, particularly a sliding door element of a shower enclosure, having at least one guide element arranged at the bottom thereof, each comprising a rotatable member with a hook which engages in a guide channel in an adjacent lower guide rail.
A guide arrangement of this general type is disclosed in German Patent No. DE 29 02 288 B1. This guide arrangement contains a rotatable member which is rotatably arranged in an opening in the lower frame member of the door element. This opening extends over the entire width of the door element and is substantially parallel to the plane of the door element. For assembly, the rotatable member must be inserted into this opening from the side and secured by appropriate means against longitudinal displacement. Since two such rotatable members are needed for each door element, the result is an additional, and by no means negligible, amount of production and assembly work. The rotatable member is intended to compensate for dimensional variations which are mostly attributable to measurement errors which occur when the frame of the shower enclosure is installed at the work site. This is because the hook connected with the rotatable member engages a downwardly open guide channel which is only slightly deeper than the length of the hook. Because of the rotatable arrangement of the rotatable member in the opening extending in the plane of the panel, the hook can be appropriately aligned when it is installed in order to compensate for dimensional inaccuracies. A complete disengagement is neither envisioned, nor can it occur. Instead, because of the predetermined length of the hook and the depth of the lower guide channel, the door element with the hook must be inserted in the guide rail from the side and then shifted parallel to the guide rail. After that the door element can be displaced only lengthwise of the guide rail, but it is not possible to swing the door element perpendicularly to the length of the guide rail.
European Patent No. 119 614 B1 discloses a partition wall for a shower enclosure, which has an upper and a lower guide rail. A plurality of door elements are suspended and displaceably mounted in the upper guide rail. The door elements have rigid guide elements with hooks in the area of their lower edges, which engage in a guide channel in the lower guide rail. The area between the lower edges of the door elements and the lower guide rail is not readily accessible, and cleaning this area is difficult.
German Patent No. 32 09 768 A1 discloses a guide arrangement whose guide elements are mounted for vertically downward displacement on the bottom frame member of the door element. The guide elements extend over the entire width of the door element and are composed of rails of L-shaped cross section which respectively engage from underneath in one of two U-shaped guide channels in the lower guide rail. To disengage the guide elements from the U-shaped guide rail, each must be pushed vertically downwardly against the force of a spring into a lowered position. The spring is arranged in the lower frame member in which the guide elements are mounted for vertical displacement. The manufacturing and installation costs are considerable, and additional measures must be taken to mount and to secure the respective guide elements in the frame member of the door element.